Are you teaching a lesson on how Jesus Calms the Storm? Looking for a free lesson plan and activity guide? Maybe you are doing a series on the Jesus Storybook Bible and looking for free resources? Look no further! This post is part of a blog hop for an activity for every story in the JSB. Make sure to check out the link at the end for more great ideas!
This is one of my favorite Bible stories. I mean, just for a second, think about it! Even if you stop creating waves, it takes a LONG time for the water to settle down to completely calm again. The Bible tells us that there was GREAT calm, or that it was still. Imagine the awesomeness of that moment. It would be such a shocking difference! The Bible tells us that the disciples were terrified. Um, ya, I think I understand why! The miracle was two fold, he not only rebuked the wind and the waves, he reformed molecules to be instantly still.
How can we create this same awareness, wonder, and awe in our children? How can we help them see the absolute power in this story? Follow along with this lesson plan and easy activity!
Jesus Calms the Storm Lesson Preparation
What do you need to prepare?
- Your Jesus Storybook Bible
(bookmark page 236)
- A Styrofoam bowl for each child
- Paper (cardstock if you have it) and felts or pencil crayons
- Playdough
- Clothespins or popsicle sticks (3 for each child)
If you are doing this at home, you won’t need anything else to prepare. If you are doing this for Sunday School or a classroom setting, you will want something to put water in. Some ideas would be a plastic washbasin, a large Tupperware bin, a small plastic or blowup swimming pool, etc.
I highly recommend reading the story beforehand. A section of the story that I recognized I was able to look directly at my children to drive it in
“…The wind and the waves recognized Jesus’ voice (they had heard it before, of course)…”
The power of that moment, they were riveted to my face, I enunciated the words, put a little bit of my own awe and wonder into it and watched it hit them like a lightning bolt. Not only was it more powerful for my children, but it was incredibly to see their faces in that moment.
Jesus Calms the Storm Activity Guide
Now you are ready to teach your lesson. First off, we made our crafts. I gave each child a piece of cardstock, set out the felts and clothespins (3 each), a lump of dough for everyone and a bowl. You want to make sure that the dough is somewhat evenly dispersed on the bottom and make sure you are pushing it out on a flat surface so you don’t break the bowl! We cut out circles for the heads, drew faces on them and stuck our clothespin people in their boat!
I ended up helping Aliyah (3 years old) but everyone else did theirs on their own. We made our faces as scared as we could, except for Jesus who was calm and relaxed 😉
Now you are ready for your story! I had all the kids sit down with their boats to listen.
After reading our story, we were ready to try out our activity. We brought our boats to a bathtub filled with cold water and started making a storm. Some of the kids flashed the lights to make lightning, others made booming noises and blew on the boats, the rest of us swished the water back and forth to make giant waves. We began to see when the water started filling the boats just how terrified the disciples would have been.
We then had Jesus stand up and command the storm to stop and the water to still. We waited (a LONG time) for the water to stop moving and talked about how miraculous it was that it stopped instantly in the story, how impossible!
Discussion Questions:
Why were the disciples terrified after Jesus calms the storm?
Have you ever been afraid of something?
What does it mean to trust Jesus instead of being scared?
How can we do that?
If you have older children, I would get them to write about this in their journal, what this story means to them, how it speaks to them, etc. For younger children we took the time to just sit down and talk about it.
I can still remember my object lesson about this story when I was a child, I hope and pray that this lesson sticks with my children for all their days to come. That God will use this to speak to their hearts, to instill wonder and awe in their minds. That they will remember to trust Jesus even when I cannot be there to tell them. And I pray that God will use this lesson to the children you teach as well, whether at home or church or school.
An Activity for Every Story in the Jesus Storybook Bible
Looking for more great lessons and activities for the Jesus Storybook Bible? Come on over to our blog hop hosted at My Mundane and Miraculous Life. Also be sure to check out the author’s Facebook page for recent news and updates on her new projects at Sally Lloyd-Jones.
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